In 2022, I had the great pleasure of meeting Ondřej Berkus in person and spending a day at his workshop. The experience was like nothing I had ever experienced, and I decided to write about it here as my way of remembering every detail of the visit. Nearly exactly one year later, I had the […]
Consistency is a key factor in any fledgling watchmaking brand and Ming Thein’s watchmaking project, a.k.a MING Watches, has stuck its course of coherent design producing a style that is recognisable and judging by its sales, widely admired. To celebrate the brand’s fifth anniversary in 2022, Ming unveiled a sophisticated monopusher chronograph in titanium with […]
Look at this watch… It’s the new Havender model by a Scandinavian brand named Arcanaut, co-founded by James Thompson, a.k.a Black Badger. Look closely at its dial, and you’ll think that it’s a nice, rather undefinable lavender-toned composite material. In a way, you’d be right to think so, but there is more to know about it […]
Atypical careers in watchmaking are rare, if not exceptional. Most of today’s watchmakers work to the mandates of marketing and Excel spreadsheets and tend to be conventional and conformist. There are, however, some rare exceptions and Yvan Arpa, founder of ArtyA, is one of them. Flamboyant and unpredictable, unfiltered and out of the ordinary, just […]
Minase is a Japanese micro-brand specialising in complex cases and dials with superlative handmade finishings. Since the focus is primarily on the external elements of the watch, Minase often turns to traditional Japanese artistic techniques to decorate the dial. The latest Minase Divido models flaunt incredible handmade dials using Urushi lacquer mixed with paint and […]
Finding simpler solutions to complex problems is the overriding philosophy at Ochs und Junior, the brand founded by Ludwig Oechslin in 2006. Developing complications with as few components as possible, combined with a radical minimalist design, are hallmark features of Ochs und Junior. The moon phase complication, which is accurate for 3,478 years, was introduced […]
Ophion is a brand that immediately caught our attention, right away after its inception in 2015. Not only because it is one of the rare watch projects to come from Spain, but mostly it’s the dedication to details that made an impression on us. The idea, bringing the charm of high-end indie watchmaking, without the […]
It’s not often that we get to introduce completely new brands that do things in a completely unique way. Sure, most watches we present, even the ones from breakout watchmakers, still rely on the same format of central hands making a rotation once every 12 hours. Watches that rewrite or even completely throw out the […]
A relatively young Swiss watchmaker, CODE41‘s motto is to break the codes of traditional watchmaking and distribution – to innovate off the beaten track. Not only is the creative process shared with its community, which can decide on aspects of future creations, but the brand has also created highly distinctive watches over the years, powered […]
The remarkable discovery and acquisition of the Compteur de Tièrces, believed to be one of the first-ever chronographs, ignited a relentless commitment from Louis Moinet’s owner Jean-Marie Schaller to uphold the legacy, driving Les Ateliers Louis Moinet in St-Blaise to craft timepieces befitting the esteemed watchmaker’s name. With each release produced in limited quantities or […]